India huffed and puffed, put up a valiant show, but were comfortably beaten in their international friendly against Brazil on Saturday (October 3).

The Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan was graced by the Samba magic, as the Brazilian boys secured an easy 4-0 victory at the expense of the Blue Tigers.

India vs Brazil: As It Happened

In the very first minute of the match, a shot from Estevao went off target. India, with a pleasant surprise, started with intent and won the first corner of the match, and that resulted in a shot from Apuia, which went off target. Vinicius Jr. came close in the 8th minute, but his shot was parried away by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

In the 13th minute of the match, Manvir Singh dribbled past the Brazilian defence but failed to take a shot at the key moment, after a very swift play by Ryan Williams. At the halfway stage of the first half, Pedro Guilherme took a shot, but it went off target.

Estevao scores first

In the 28th minute of the match, Estevao struck first for Brazil, as his left-footed strike after cutting inside got past Gurpeet. The Chelsea forward’s shot was saveable but the Indian custodian’s palm was not strong enough.

Pedro doubles the Lead

In the 42nd minute of the match, Pedro’s tame hit was straight at Gurpreet, but the Indian custodian made another meal of it and the Selecao doubled their lead. At the break, it was a 2-0 lead for the visitors.

Carlo Ancelotti made a number of changes at the break as the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes, Vanderson and Bruno Guimaraes came on. Khalid Jamil also tweaked at goal as Prabhsukhan Gill came on for Gurpreet for his debut, while Mohamed Sanan also substituted in for the final 45 minutes. In the 53rd minute, Ryan Williams hit the first shot on target with a decent hit, but it didn’t travel past the Brazil custodian.

Samuel Lino makes it three

In the 58th minute, Samuel Lino got the ball in a dangerous situation and curled the ball past Prabhsukhan to make it three for Selecao as they were in comfortable territory.

India came Close

In the 64th minute of the match, Ryan Williams came mighty close to get one back for the home team, but the Brazilian keeper Morisca somehow pushed it away from danger. Ryan’s shot was first saved on the goal line by a Brazil defender, and then Manvir failed to capitalise for India in close quarters. Just a couple of minutes later, Ryan and Manvir had a superb exchange and the latter’s lobbed pass past Gabriel was met in a volley by Williams, but unfortunately his shot was off target.

The five-time Champions pushed hard to add another and Samuel made it four to cap off a comfortable 4-0 win for them, without breaking much sweat under the lights in Kolkata.

The Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan had doubts about number of spectators, but a desperate attempt by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to distribute free tickets worked out at the Salt Lake stadium, as some of the stands partially filled up. The official attendance confirmed more than 42,000 supporters, who witnessed a piece of history.